The CIA May Be Able to Hack You... but JBLM is Monitoring Everything You Do

We have all, no doubt, read the recent news about the CIA hacking and the trove of documents published by WikiLeaks disclosing the CIA hacks. Some may be surprised at the news, but I think most would not be too surprised to find that the CIA is spying on us. What might surprise you however is the fact that smaller local organizations, such as the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division are doing the same thing.

At the end of August 2015, it was reported that the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division was using Stingray cellphone monitoring devices to collect information about local political activists. Thomas Rudd, the chief of the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division admitted to using the email address portwatcher[at]Hotmail.com (among others) to gain access to private list servers and collect information about political demonstrations, and to intercept privileged communications between attorneys and their clients. Even after being order to stop this electronic monitoring, Rudd stated in a 2014 deposition that he continued to illegally monitor the communications of local political groups and activists who opposed government policies.

In the summer 2016 we found that the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division was gathering information from the social media accounts of Black Lives Matters participants, and later that year, and into 2017, collecting information about people who supported Seattle Council member Sawant’s initiatives for a better Seattle.

According to a November 2015 article in Bloomberg, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service working in conjunction with the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division used special software to spy on every computer in Washington state, regardless of whether those computers were owned by a member of the armed forces, or not.

Right now, the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division is illegally collecting information about those who protest gentrification in Seattle, oppose the movement of ships from Portland for oil drilling in the Arctic, those who protest police brutality and say Black Lives Matter, and those who opposed Bureau of Land Management abuses in Burns, Oregon! Anyone who questions government activities or opposes government policies is a potential terrorist in the eyes of Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

You may be concerned that the CIA has the ability to hack your computer and other electronic devices; but the real threat to your personal privacy and security comes from criminal organizations like the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division which are allowed to operate with a complete disregard for the law and without any type of supervision or oversight.

Contact the Joint Base Lewis-McChord Force Protection Division and demand that they stop their illegal activity. You can contact them here:

Thomas Rudd, Protection Division Chief, DES, 253-966-6914, 253-307-0185 (cell), thomas.r.rudd.civ [at] mail.mil

Daniel Vessels, JBLM AT Officer and Deputy Protection Div Chief Office 253-966-7319, Blackberry 253-320-0271, daniel.l.vessels.civ [at] mail.mil

Use the Joint Base Lewis-McChord online comment system and send your demands to Col. Daniel Morgan, the Joint Base Commander at (https://ice.disa.mil/index.cfm?fa=card&s=957&sp=121425&dep=*DoD) or directly to Thomas Rudd's and Daniel Vessel's supervisor Matthew Toth at (https://ice.disa.mil/index.cfm?fa=card&sp=109607&s=957&dep=*DoD&sc=29) You do not need to leave your name, but you may provide a telephone number or e-mail address for a reply if you choose.